How to get hiring clients to actually use your portal
How to get busy hiring managers to accept a portal invite, sign in and leave feedback there: an invite email, a 10-minute first call and a two-week habit plan.
By the Recruiting ATS team (How we write)Published 7 min read
You set up the portal, shared the first three candidates and sent the invite. The hiring manager's reply: "Can you just email me the CVs?" That's the normal first reaction, and it isn't a no. Clients rarely refuse a portal outright. They ignore it, and usually for reasons you can fix: they were invited at the wrong moment, the first login showed nothing useful, or the agency kept sending CVs by email "just in case".
Adoption comes down to three moments: the invite, the first session and the first two weeks. If you're still deciding whether a portal is right for your clients at all, start with how to share candidate progress with clients. This guide assumes you've decided and now need people to use it.
Send the invite when there's something to look at
The classic mistake is inviting the client at intake, when the portal is empty. The hiring manager clicks the link, sees a job with no candidates, and files the whole thing under "another tool". Two weeks later, when you share a shortlist, the invite has expired and the first impression is already set.
Invite the moment the first shortlist is ready. The first login should land on real candidates with your notes next to them.
Two more decisions at this point:
- Invite the people who decide, not only the coordinator. If HR schedules interviews but the hiring manager says yes or no, both need access. A portal that only HR uses turns HR into a human forwarding service, and you're back to email one step removed.
- Send your own email as well as the system invite. Automated invitations look like every other SaaS notification. A note from you, with candidate names in it, gets opened.
Invitation email template
Send this from your own inbox, right after the system invite goes out:
Subject: 3 candidates for Head of Operations are ready for you
Hi Dana,
The first shortlist for the Head of Operations role is ready: three candidates, each with a short note on why they fit the brief and what I'd probe in an interview.
Instead of sending CVs by email, I've shared them in our client portal. You'll see each candidate's current stage, and you can leave comments right on their profile, so nothing gets lost in a thread. You'll get a separate invitation email in a minute. Please accept it in the next few days, because the link expires. You can set a password or sign in with Google using this same email address.
If it helps, I can walk you through it on a 10-minute call tomorrow. Does 9:30 or 4:00 work?
Best,
Sam
Swap in your names and roles, but keep the line about which address to use. The usual sign-in snag is a hiring manager trying their personal Gmail instead of the work address you invited, and that line heads it off.
The first session: a 10-minute call
Hiring managers don't read onboarding guides. They will give you ten minutes if there are candidates on the other side. Book the call within a day of the invite, ask them to join from the device they'll actually use, and have them sign in while you're on the line.
The walkthrough script
Minute 0 to 1: set the frame. "I'll keep this to ten minutes. By the end you'll have looked at the first candidate and we'll both know where feedback goes."
Minute 1 to 3: sign in together. "Open the invitation email and click the link. If your company uses Google, sign in with Google using your work address. Otherwise, set a password." Wait until they're in. Don't move on while they're still fighting a login screen.
Minute 3 to 6: open the first candidate. "Everything I'd normally put in an email is here: my note on why she fits, her CV and where she is in the process. The stage is something my team updates, so when she moves to interview, you'll see it here without me writing to you."
Minute 6 to 8: get the first comment written live. "Could you type your first reaction on her now? Even one line is fine: interview, hold or pass, and why." These are the most useful two minutes of the call. Once they've written a comment with you on the line, they know where the box is and how little it takes, and the next one doesn't need you.
Minute 8 to 9: show where their team can talk. If the portal keeps the client's internal discussion separate from the thread they share with you, show both. Hiring managers hold back in a shared thread when they think their colleagues' blunt opinions will end up in front of the agency.
Minute 9 to 10: agree the rhythm. "When I share a new candidate, you'll get an email. Can we agree you'll leave a decision here within two business days?" Get a yes out loud, then write it in your follow-up email.
The first two weeks: build the habit
The call gets them in once. The next two weeks decide whether they come back. This is the plan we'd follow with a new client:
| Day | What you do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Invite plus your personal email, once the shortlist is ready | First login lands on real candidates |
| 1 to 2 | The 10-minute call; first comment written live | Removes sign-in friction and sets the example |
| 2 to 3 | Reply to their first comment inside the portal within a few hours | Teaches them that the portal is where things happen fast |
| 4 to 5 | Share the next candidate only in the portal, with a one-line email: "Dana, new profile in the portal: Alex Moreno" | No attachment means the portal is the only way to see the profile |
| 7 | Look for anyone still marked pending (never accepted) and anyone who hasn't commented since the call. Phone them; resend the invite if the link expired | A silent user after a week rarely recovers on their own |
| 10 | Move a candidate's stage after an interview and mention it in your next call | They see the portal reflects reality without asking you |
| 14 | Ask one question: "Is this working for you? Anything missing?" Fix what you can | Shows the portal serves them, not just you |
The rule underneath the whole table: from day 4 on, never send a CV as an attachment. As long as attachments keep arriving, email stays the real channel and the portal becomes a copy.
When the client replies by email anyway
They will, especially in the first week. How you respond matters more than any setting.
- Answer the email, then move the content. Don't refuse to engage. Reply to the question, copy their feedback into the candidate's thread yourself and write back: "Got it. I've added your note to Alex's profile so Priya and the rest of your team see it too."
- Reply with a pointer, not a file. If they ask for a CV, send the candidate's name and a reminder that it's in the portal. Not the PDF.
- On the third time, talk about it plainly. In your next call: "Feedback in email threads is where I lose things, and it slows your search down. It would help me a lot if comments went in the portal." Most hiring managers respond better to "this gets you candidates faster" than to a rule.
- Accept that a few clients will never switch. A founder who lives in their inbox isn't going to change for you. If the client is worth it, run a hybrid: they write by email, you log everything in the portal so the rest of their team sees it. Not every client has to adopt the portal, but every client's feedback has to end up in one place.
How to tell whether it's working
By the end of week two you'll know. Comments show up without you chasing them. The hiring manager starts talking in stages: "I see Alex is in interview with Priya." And the "any updates?" emails have stopped.
If the portal has gone quiet since the first call, look at your own side first. Usually you invited the coordinator and not the person who decides, the portal sat empty between shortlists, or someone on your team kept emailing CVs. Fix that before you decide the client "isn't a portal person".
In Recruiting ATS, this plan runs on how the client portal already works: the invite link is valid for 7 days, clients can sign in with Google using the invited address, client users never count toward your seats, and both sides get in-app and email notifications for new comments and newly shared candidates. It also works on the phone, which is where many hiring managers will open that first notification.